Resistance assessment of grapevine leaves to downy mildew with sporulation area scoring

The use of resistant individuals obtained through a breeding program, aimed at decreasing chemical treatments, is one of the most promising strategies for control of downy mildew caused by Plasmopara viticola in grapevine. In this study, 869 hybrid grape individuals, obtained by crossing the resistant Regent grape cultivar with sensitive Alphonse Lavallée, were tested after artificial inoculation of detached leaves by drops of the pathogen inoculum. Sporulation severity, as visual evaluation of sporulation density including necrosis, and sporulation incidence were scored to assess resistance level, then the sporulation area (mm²) was measured for each individual. The criterium of sporulation incidence could not describe all resistance levels. Sporulation area made it possible to measure the entire area in detail for how the pathogen spread at the inoculation site. Sporulation area was not fully consistent with sporulation severity. In this context, a new scale for sporulation area was developed to determine resistance level to the pathogen by taking into account the distribution of sporulation area values within those obtained from sporulation severity scales. Six categories ranging from 0 to 0.05 mm² (extremely resistant-ER) to ≥15.1 mm² (extremely sensitive-ES) were defined. 43 of the 869 individuals tested through the three evaluation criteria, in which no sporulation was observed, and 18 additional individuals with sporulation area of <0.05 mm² were scored in the ER group. Microscopic analysis confirmed findings for the ER group and other resistance levels. The authors suggest that the scale of sporulation area will be useful for assessment of resistance to downy mildew on grapevine leaves.